Connecting 2 Computers

[AbbN]

Hi,

I have 2 computers here at home running XP Pro. I was told that I could
connect the 2 computers together to (e.g.) transfer files simply by
connecting a USB cable between them and that Windows would do everything
automatically. I did that but when I open My Computer, neither computers see
each other. My Network Places does appear when the 2 computers are connected
to each other. I do have the XP firewall enabled on both computers. I tried
Mapping Network Drive on bother computers but it wants me to create a some
kind of folder but refuses to let me. I've also tried going through my
network cards with the same results. Perhaps I was misinformed about XP
doing this
automatically (not all sales people know what they're talking about). Is
there something I have to do??

Thanks in advance
Abb N

 

[Larry Samuels]

USB to USB networking can be flaky at times,but Ethernet to Ethernet is
reliable.
You need a crossover cable instead of a standard CAT-5 cable when directly
connecting the 2 pcs without going through a hub.

--
Larry Samuels MS-MVP (Windows-Shell/User)
Associate Expert
Unofficial FAQ for Windows Server 2003 at
http://pelos.us/SERVER.htm
Expert Zone -

 

[Gordon]

Larry Samuels cogitated deeply and scribbled thusly:

USB to USB networking can be flaky at times,but Ethernet to Ethernet is
reliable.
You need a crossover cable instead of a standard CAT-5 cable when directly
connecting the 2 pcs without going through a hub.

And you then need to do the following:

Create an IDENTICAL user with IDENTICAL password and IDENTICAL access
rights on each machine.
Create shared drives that contain the data and files you want to share.
Then run the XP Network set-up wizard.

 

[DiscoDuck]

This didn't seem to work for me.

Larry Samuels cogitated deeply and scribbled thusly:

And you then need to do the following:

Create an IDENTICAL user with IDENTICAL password and IDENTICAL access
rights on each machine.
Create shared drives that contain the data and files you want to share.
Then run the XP Network set-up wizard.